The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
by Samurai Bebop
Summary: Months after the cultural festival incident, the much-hated Hachiman returns to the Service Club.


**The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly - A "My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU" fanfiction.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabu Kome wa Machigatteiru. The light novel series was written by Wataru Watari and illustrated by Ponkan8.**

* * *

_Kill yourself Hikigaya Hachiman._

Amused, he didn't bother to erase the writing on the chalkboard. Instead he walked passed it and took a seat in the corner of the room where he belonged. Over the past year he's gotten used to this. He thought as bullying attempt go, these were pretty pathetic. After the incident during the Cultural Festival, things were never the same. People don't ignore him, now they just flat out hate him. Not a single person in the school is oblivious about what he did, and it was sort of the norm to mess with him at least once in your high school life. The date was December 23rd. One last day at the zoo before winter break, and Hachiman couldn't wait to go home and spend his work-free days watching a few of his guilty pleasures on the computer. He was a former otaku, so he knew his fair share of TV shows. There was a chance of the whole scandal blowing over after the break, but it wasn't in his nature to hope. For the past few months he'd been spit-balled, paper airplaned, tripped, and even stolen from. This was about the fifth time he'd been given a personal message, but he wasn't counting. The last one was a threat of being beaten, but he knew nobody had the guts to really do it. Sometimes it was physical, but not to a point where the perpetrator could be a arrested or fined.

The school had a new heating system, so the whole school was as hot as a furnace. Hachiman wore a huge grey jacket with frizzles on the inside, along with a white and black pattern scarf around his neck. He didn't bother taking any of it off, even if he looked like a big chicken. Fashion and outward appearance didn't matter to him anymore, so he wore whatever he wanted now. Time went by slowly in class. The teacher gave another lecture, and as usual Hachiman ignored the entire thing to look out his window at the snowfall. The clouds were dark, and the days were looking more depressing than ever. There has never been this much snow in the city for a long time. Hachiman didn't appreciate having to wear ridiculous boots all the way to school and back. He envied Yukino and her warm and convenient way of travel. Thoughts of car pooling came to his mind before the bell rang for the lunch hour. He threw his books into a bag and was the first one out of the class.

While walking through the dimly-lit hallway he noticed Christmas lights being taken down by members of the student body. Several classroom doors opened, and out of them spilled other students rushing to eat with their friends. Those that noticed Hachiman walking past were quick to give him a glare or a look of disgust. One student even went out of his way to shove him. "Merry Christmas!" he said cheerily. Making it to the stairs, he climbed up while taking a look at a few posters that had been put up. One was for a Christmas Eve Dance which he obviously wont be going to, and another was for a special bakery sale going on later in the day. Hachiman was supposed to be helping out, but changed his mind after realizing it wouldn't be a good idea. Finally at the top floor, he went outside to his special spot which was covered in thick snow.

The door closed as he sat down on the cold hard floor, propping himself onto the wall. He brought a bento out from his bag. Attached to it was a note with a cute smiley face along with a 'cheer up onii-chan' written on it. A chilly wind blew it onto the ground, making him shiver a little. He took out chopsticks and started to eat. The snow was quickly building on top of his meat, so he tried to eat as quickly as possible before his food became cold.

A loud clang awakened Hachiman from his daydreaming. In the doorway stood an old colleague named Yui. She had on a large, bright yellow coat along with a flower hairpin. Instead of just a skirt, she wore light gray sweatpants over it. As usual she had a big hairball tied up on the left side of her head. Keeping her hands in her pockets too keep warm, she casually walked over to Hachiman and crouched close beside him and watched the snowflakes.

"Hi Hikki," she said in a sweet voice. He held himself back from thinking anything about her courtesy visits. She was cute, but he knew better.

He sighed and scratched his messy hair that's been bugging him all day. "Why do you come here, Yui?"

"Why do you think?" she asked back. "Things haven't been the same since you left. Honestly, I'm even beginning to miss you."

"How sickeningly sweet of you," he said.

"And she may not like to admit it, but Yukino does too."

Hachiman laughed to himself at the thought of that. Naturally, Yui was creeped out by the unpleasantness of his laughter. "I told you already. I'm not coming back. Besides, I already have a replacement, don't I?"

After leaving the Service Club, Hayato Hayama took his place. Ever since then, the club has became much more involved and popular with the school. One day, they were even called up by the city mayor for a personal thank you. Hayato in particular, has been credited for their newfound success.

She hid her mouth under her jacket collar. "Things have been strange lately. It feels different when he's around."

"Maybe you're in love," Hachiman joked.

"I am not!" she shouted angrily at him, to his surprise. "It's not that at all, dufus!" She calmed herself down and leaned over, putting her chin on her arms. "It's just that whenever he's around us, it feels really fake, or something like that. It reminds me of the times I spent with Yumiko; before Yuki helped me open up. I always end up going out of my way for him."

"That's love, isn't it?"

"No way, it's different!"

"How?"

"It feels...forced."

He decided to change the subject. "So, got any plans for Christmas?"

She cheered up immediately, remembering why she'd come here in the first place. "That's right." She moved closer to Hachiman without thinking. "What do you want for Christmas, Hikki?"

"I told you already. I don't want a gift," he said nervously watching her body inch closer to his. He tried to push her a little bit back, but she caught his hands into hers.

"You think I'm letting you off with an idiotically vague answer like that?" she said squeezing his hands harder. "Do you know what I've endured trying to find you the perfect present?! Do you know how unnerving it was to go into those anime shops?! I almost died in there! People kept staring!"

"I couldn't care any less," he said, annoyed she would go through all this trouble for someone like him. "When have I ever told you I was into that kind of thing?"

"Don't lie to me, I've done the research this time," she said proudly. "I contacted that delusional friend of yours, he told me everything he knew. Plus you talked about doing cosplay before."

"That was a friend's friend," he said lying through his teeth. "Now, would you please let go of my hand?" She complied after taking a whole three seconds to realize what she was doing.

The two stared at the snow silently while a blush on Yui's face slowly appeared on her face. Adjusting her hair, she burrowed her head into his shoulder, giving Hachiman a shock to his entire system. Anticipating his comments, she cut him off before he could say anything. "I've been doing this to Yukinon all week," she said abruptly, sounding more like Hachiman himself than it did her. "I'm exhausted. So for just a day, give it a rest." Yui has been awake for nearly fifty hours, for this whole week she's been stressing over a confession that happened in front of what seemed like the entire school a week before. Ever since, she's been unable to sleep properly. She shut her heavy eyelids while Hachiman tried to calm himself down, realizing he hasn't touched a girl since snuggling with his mother at the age of four. "I'm sure you've heard the rumors."

"Yeah," he said before unintentionally catching a whiff of the shampoo emitting from her thick pink hair. No one told him about what happened, he just has a habit of eavesdropping on his classmates.

"What should I do?"

"Not my decision to make." She pinched his hand with her long nails, making him flinch from pain. "Fine, you want my opinion? I think you should give the guy a chance. He's good looking, popular, and has the charisma of Freddie Mercury. Don't think you could do any wrong here."

"Well if that's what you think, why don't you marry him?!" she cried still closing her eyes.

"Good grief."

Yui yawned quietly and wiped her eyes. Now drowsy due to the coziness of Hachiman's horrible-looking sweater, she lost track of time while dreaming of going adventures with her dog. Cozy and comfortable, a bit of drool nearly escaped from her mouth before being awoken by the lunch bell.

She didn't budge. "So that's really all you think, Hikki?"

"...Yeah."

"Well, I guess we're done here." She took her head off his shoulder and stood up, wiping the snow off her coat, hair, and pants. "Tell me if you change your mind. About quitting the club," Yui said smiling down at him. He couldn't think of anything to say. She opened the door to leave before muttering one last thing. "Baka."

The door slowly closed once she disappeared. Hachiman felt sick in the chest, and didn't feel like going back to class. But he stood up with his bag in hand, thinking it wasn't worth the note of absence. To his dead surprise the door opened for the third time of the day, this time a woman wearing a lab coat had come to speak with him.

"Still making big girls cry I see."

"I'm not in the mood," he said trying to brush her off for class.

"Wait!" She put her arm between herself and the doorway, blocking his way inside.

"I need your help."

* * *

Hayato walked into the clubroom to find Yukino reading a book in her usual chair near a small heater. On one side of the room several tables were placed upon one another for storage. There wasn't much else special about this room. Hayato dropped his bag near one of the table's legs and took a seat on one of the empty chairs.

"It's good to see you, Yukinoshita-san."

"Likewise."

"How was your day?"

"Fine."

"Anything interesting happen?"

"No."

"As cold as always," he sighed.

She never took an eye off her book when they weren't on the job. But he wanted to change that. One reason he joined the Service Club was to get to know it's members better. Even Hachiman, but he quit before he had the chance to meet him. Ironically, the only two girls he'd ever want to get closer to, are the only ones that push him away. Hayato first met Yukino in junior high, where he tried his absolute best to protect her from bullies. But this ended up backfiring greatly, resulting in an incident neither like to talk about. He's tried to repress it and shut it away, but it always comes back to haunt him. He wants to make amends and start over with her, but he could never break through her icy exterior.

"I'm going out with a few friends this weekend, and I was wondering if you'd like to come along. They told me they're very eager to meet you."

"The way I feel is quite the opposite. I am very un-eager to meet any of them. Especially the blond one."

"Give us a chance, I promise we won't disappoint."

"Your determination is as admirable as it is annoying. I'm what you call, a good judge of character. And from what I can tell, you're a bunch of dimwitted, arrogant jocks. This is the reason I decline." She flipped a page over and took a small glance at Hayato. "Excluding you, of course. You're just arrogant."

"You don't really think that."

"I never lie," she said. "But I suppose you are a different type of arrogant. The heroic, idealistic, white knight type."

"Is it wrong to be arrogant?

"Not at all. Arrogance is bliss. It's just not the kind of people I tend to be friends with, pardon a few exceptions."

"Like me, perchance?" he asked hopefully.

"No."

"Then who do you consider to be a friend? Hachiman?"

"He's even more arrogant than you are. Now if you'll excuse me." Yukino unzipped her bag and placed her book inside. She rose from her chair and walked out of the room without even saying goodbye. His attempts to connect always seem to drive her away. The door loudly slammed shut while Hayato wiped off his cold sweat, eventually realizing she never said 'no' to the question. He laughed in his head before standing up with his hands tucked within his pockets.

"Two rejections in one day..." he whispered to himself in the empty classroom.

"I envy you, Hikigaya-kun."

He tried his best to keep a high spirited demeanor, as he watched the windows slowly begin to fog.


End file.
